The Case of the Kind Officer with Red Eyes
by Odat
Summary: Soma Week 2014. A series of encounters between a certain Officer Evans and pre-law student Maka Albarn. Who also just so happens to the daughter of Captain Albarn...his boss.
1. Really Bad (ie loud) Music

[Roommates]

She's so embarrassed the first time she meets him, she's nearly in tears. She's a good student! She stays out of trouble! She doesn't go to wild drunken parties like the one her roommate, Blair, is currently hosting!

It's three in the morning, she has a Saturday morning class in six hours, and she's pretty sure her bed is being used for premarital sex right now. It would almost be a relief to see the cops, except her father is the police captain and if there's anyone under 21 currently drinking in her flat, she could be in a lot of trouble. So there are a lot of mixed emotions flying around when she opens the door and sees a man with white hair in a blue cop uniform standing there frowning.

He's got dark circles under his eyes and it has to be a trick of the strobe light that one of the many..many…many unwelcome guests brought, but she thinks his eyes are red. He must be new, fresh out of the academy or a transfer; she's never met him before.

Which somehow makes everything better and worse.

"We got a call about the noise. Your neighbors would appreciate if you could shut it down?"

Maka protests, agrees, apologizes, and then sighs. "I've been trying. They won't listen."

"Hard to hear anything over the awful music." He eyes her and Maka can feel her cheeks heating up; she isn't exactly dressed for a party, and really she'd just like to go to bed, but that's currently occupied. Plus, she likes this kind of music.

Blair squeals and drapes herself over Maka, biting her lip and purring out, "Oh Maka! You didn't tell me the stripper was here! Or that he was so handsome in uniform! Come on in, big boy! Unless you were planning on keeping him to yourself, kitten?"

Now it's the cop's turn to blush.

"Ma'am, going to have to shut the party down."

"Oooh, cuff me, officer!" Maka actually slaps her hand over her eyes when Blair puts her wrists together and pushes her breasts together and leans towards the policeman.

"Blair! Please? He's serious. Tell them to turn it off?" She's mortified. Maybe the floor will swallow her up. Or collapse…that's slightly more likely, the creaky old boards were definitely not meant to have so many people on them. "Officer," it takes her a minute to squint at the name tag embroidered on his uniform, "Evans, I'm so sorry, she isn't usually like this. I don't party, I barely drink! This is so inconsiderate, I'm so sorry-"

He cuts her off with a bored and tired look, like he's heard it all before, and manages to slide through the door without Blair smothering him in her boobs. Officer Evans marches over to the DJ station that used to be Maka's desk, yanks on the mess of wires and everything goes very quiet.

"POLICE. EVERYBODY OUT."

Oh. That was effective. Maka quickly moves to hide next to the fridge while people quickly file out; it sounds a little bit like a herd of elephants, but then it's quiet. Blair is nowhere to be seen and Maka has a feeling that she won't be back until much later. Possibly even Sunday.

"Thank you. I'm sorry…please don't tell my dad?"

The cop sighs and looks her over. "And who's your dad?"

"Captain Spirit Albarn."

Officer Evans chokes on air and quickly averts his eyes. "I am so not telling the Captain that I busted a party at his daughter's place. He can read the report if he cares that much."

"There's going to be a report?!" Oh no. Oh no! There can't be a report! Because then her name will be in the system! There will be a mug shot! She'll go to jail! Her life will be over! She'll fail her classes!

"Hey, breathe! Chill. I doubt your neighbors will file a formal complaint. Just, keep it down, yeah? You'll be fine and your dad won't kill me. Uh. If that's all, I'm gonna go."

"Ah, wait, um. I think, could you? There are…in my bed?"

He sighs, but sticks his head in the door she's pointing at, barks something and two…three more people scurry out of her apartment. With her sheets. Well, she never liked that set anyway and had plans to burn them after tonight as it was.

"Thank you, Officer."

"Have a nice night, Miss Albarn." He nods his head and clicks the apartment door shut behind him.

Huh, his eyes really are red.


	2. Misbehaving Messenger Bag

[Nosebleed]

He's escorting some pothead-teenage-delinquent into holding the next time he sees her.

It's a Tuesday afternoon almost a month after he disbanded the party at her apartment; no complaint was filed and so no report was written. Just a quick note and a signature and it was in the past. Plus, the Captain's daughter was so off limits it wasn't even funny. One of the first things the Captain had told him and the other newly minted officers was that his "beautiful, darling, angel-faced baby girl was strictly forbidden to even be looked at! Not that any of them were worthy of her anyway."

Soul really hadn't paid it much mind, what were the chances that he'd ever even see her?

Well, apparently pretty high, because this was the second time. Fuck. All he wanted to do was keep his head down, his nose clean, and get through being a grunt so he could actually start doing more than directing traffic, handing out tickets, breaking up college parties, and busting stoners who were too dumb to not smoke right outside of the Taco Bell.

She's got a tray of coffee and a bag of something, probably bagels or sandwiches, all carefully balanced in her hands, a very prestigious university's sweatshirt, and a messenger bag that's currently making her already very short skirt ride up her thigh to the point that Soul can nearly see her panties. Why hasn't anyone said anything!? He can't remember catching her first name, but she's chatting amiably with some of the detectives at their desks.

"Oh man. Oh man, she's smokin' hot!" Soul jostles the kid he's got and then does a double take; the dude actually has a bloody nose!

Kids these days. "Sit. Right there. I swear to god, Clay, we are going to have a very long talk with your mother when she comes to get you." He makes eye contact with Kilik, one of his buddies from the Academy, and he nods.

Soul darts around the desks as the Captain's daughter walks away, and god damn it! Each step she takes it making her skirt ride up more! "Miss? Miss! Miss Albarn?!"

She finally turns around and visibly pales when she sees him. "O-Officer Evans? Oh my gosh, there was a complaint filed, wasn't there? Oh god, oh god, this can't be happening."

"No, Miss, there was no complaint. It's…uh. Your…uh, your bag is making your skirt ride up, you might want to pull it down?"

Her face goes as red as the tips of his ears feel. She looks horrified, quickly pulling at the hem of her skirt, and can't look him in the eye when she squeaks out a thank you.

"Don't mention it."

"EVANS. WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO MY BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER?"

Well shit, no good deed goes unpunished. Kilik is snickering at him from across the room, and Clay is slumped in the chair pouting that the show was interrupted. But like fuck is he mentioning the Captain's daughter's panties!

"Was just asking if she needed help carrying anything, sir!" Huh, good save. Hopefully he'd buy it and Miss Albarn would go along with it. Please don't kill him, please please please don't kill him.

She rolls her eyes and smiles at him, still bright red, but turns to answer her father, "Papa, you're scaring me. He was just being polite." Visibly less red she turns back to him and nods, "thank you, I'll be fine. My name's Maka. You don't have to call me "Miss Albarn. But really, thank you. How embarrassing." Maka added in a whisper.

"Ah…course. Um, have a nice day?"

"Thank you, Officer Evans! You too!" She had a really pretty smile.

Shit, he did not just think that. Her father was not only his boss, but had access to a gun. Soul trudged back to Clay and shook his head at Kilik. He'd explain later, preferably over a beer at the cop bar. Before the Captain got there.

"Awww, duuuuuude, why you gotta be such a buzz kill? Like two more steps and we woulda known what color her panties were!" Clay had managed to wipe most of the blood from his nose and was pouting.

"Rude. We are going to be having a very long talk with your mother about how to respect women." He heard Kilik snort when Clay whined.

He'd seen…they were pink.


	3. Actually Really Unsettling Phonecall

[Insanity]

The call comes in just as he's getting off a grueling shift. The Captain's daughter is spooked and the Captain himself is insisting someone is sent over there on babysitting duty. No one calls it that, but that's essentially what it is. Soul volunteers himself before he can really think it through.

Maka's been around the office a few times when he's been there; she shoots him a little smile and then rolls her eyes when her father starts yelling about his baby girl growing up and leaving him. She always brings coffee for the senior detectives and while Soul would love to be in her list for coffee, he's pretty sure Captain Albarn would either shoot him or put him on traffic duty for the rest of his life. So he'll settle for the little smiles and waves from across the room every once in a while. All of the usual suspects, the people she brings coffee when she visits left hours ago, and he's actually the best guy to go. He just got off, he won't be on call so he can stay as long as she wants, and no one has to pay him.

Only downside? No sleep in the near future for the very weary Soul.

He takes his own motorcycle to her apartment after changing into his street clothes, relieved to finally be back on it after hour and hours of sitting around in a cruiser. The turn onto her street comes up a lot more quickly than Soul remembered and he has to pull a completely illegal U-turn in the middle of the street.

The creaky stairs fly by until he's at apartment number 42. Being the daughter of the police captain came with certain perks, though he can't imagine growing up with the entire precinct as extended family. He knocks on the door twice and announces himself as a police officer. There was some shuffling, nothing out of the ordinary, and the door opened and caught on the chain. One green eye peaked out from behind the door and widened when she saw him.

"Officer Evans?" Maka had known when she called her father he would call the precinct and probably make someone come stay with her for the night, but she'd expected Azusa or maybe Marie. She was more than a little surprised to see the red eyed probie standing there with his back straight and head held hi.

"Hi Miss Maka, heard something was up and came over, everything okay?" Soul was a little startled when she closed the door in his face. Shit, she really was in distress, fuck, what if this was serious? Fuck fuck fuck. This was just supposed to be babysitting duty! He felt himself going for his gun, tucked safely away in its holster under his leather jacket. There was a sliding and a clinking and then door opened again. She'd undone the chain to let him in. Oh. Now he felt a little dumb.

"D-do you want to come in? Sorry, just a little freaked out." Maka stepped out of his way, everything looked normal, but shit; she really did look visibly shaken. "I wasn't expecting my dad to actually send someone, well like…I did, but, I mean I think I'm just over reacting but-"

"Easy, here, why don't you sit down and tell me what happened? I'm going to do a quick sweep, okay?"

"Oh. That'd be great actually. Thank you."

"Your roommate here?" Soul moved through the apartment quickly and methodically, it wasn't that large and he was back in the kitchen with Maka after only a few minutes.

"Blair? No, she's away for the week. And my dad's at that conference, otherwise I'd just go stay with him. I'm so sorry, I just, I didn't expect them to actually send you over! Papa probably insisted didn't he? This is so stupid, you don't have to stay."

She'd looked slightly more relaxed after he'd checked the apartment but now she'd worked herself back up into a frenzy. "I'll leave but only if you want me too. I'm perfectly happy to stay here, Miss Maka if it makes you feel better. Have a seat, why don't you tell me what happened?"

"…Do you want some hot chocolate?" Maka darted around the kitchen getting mugs and milk.

"Sure, thank you. Can I help?"

"No! No, it's fine!" She took a deep breath and poured the milk into the mugs. "It's fine. Justin Law called me."

Soul was not expecting that. Like at all. Maybe an ex-boyfriend or a creepy classmate. But not, Justin Law, the insane cop who had snapped and tried to kill two other detectives. It was still pretty recent; he'd only just disappeared into the bowels of the city a week ago.

"Did he threaten you?"

"No, and he didn't threaten my dad either. Just…had a lot of nonsense to say about the police force and order, and chaos and none of it made any sense. He's completely insane and…it just rattled me." She shut the microwave door with a little more force than necessary. "It's sad. I remember him bouncing me around when I was a kid when I'd visit the station. He was sort of like an uncle."

"We're going to find him."

"I know, Officer Evans."

"Soul." Maka turned to look at him, so he quickly explained, "my name is Soul. You don't have to keep calling me "Officer Evans" all the time. Plus, I'm off the clock."

She smiled and the microwave beeped that it was done heating up the milk for their hot chocolate. "But you just got the title, sure you don't want me to throw it around a little more?" He was glad that she was at least willing to tease him even though her hands were shaking. So he rolled his eyes and she grinned. "Then you can just call me Maka, no miss, deal?"

"Deal."

"Chocolaty, super chocolaty, or pudding?" Soul chuckled and asked for whatever she was having. "Pudding it is!" Maka cheered and began to shovel the hot chocolate powder into the mugs. By the time she was done the milk was actually thicker and it was perfect.

"Thank you, Maka."

"I should really be thanking you. I admit, it's nice to just have someone here." She sat down across from him at the kitchen table and took a sip of her drink.

Soul fumbled for the little notebook all officers carried and his pen before scrawling out two different numbers, "here. The top one is the direct line to the precinct and the desk I share with a buddy of mine. One of us is usually there and we always pick up. And the bottom one is my cell phone, if you ever need me for anything at all. Don't hesitate, okay? Doesn't matter what time it is or just whatever. If you need me." He trailed off, realizing that he'd just given his Captain's daughter his cell phone number and just how incriminating that could be. Back track! Fuck, uh, shit! "If someone threatens you! Or you need a police officer! Or if 911 is busy!" Stop, just stop brain, this is just getting worse with every word. He shut himself up by sipping at the hot chocolate.

But, Maka giggled, and then laughed, and then clutched at her ribs and wiped tears from her eyes from her laughing. Every time she looked at him she started all over again too. So not cool, god, if she told her dad about this he was so dead. "Oh, ehehe, oh my goodness. Thank you. I needed that. And thank you. I'm sorry, that was just. Hehehehe, I really do appreciate it, Soul. That's so kind of you."

He huffed, pink cheeked and embarrassed beyond measure, slouching in his chair and kind of wondering if he could drown himself in his mug.

The rest of the evening was spent on chatting with ease. Talking at night was always so much more personal; as though the darkness would keep all their secrets safe and hide them away again when the sun rose. Soul explained why he became a police officer and what a disappointment it was to his family, only his brother had come to his graduation ceremony. Maka told him the other side of having a well known father and how all his dirty laundry being aired in public all the time affected her and her mother. How she loved him, of course, but resented him in some ways too.

They entertained each other with stories from school, their summer jobs, bizarre dates or crazy exs; it was so easy to tell her everything, and for every story he gave her, she returned the favor. By the time the sky was growing light and Maka had started to fall asleep on the table, Soul felt like she was an old friend who he'd just caught up with after a long time of being apart. Of course, he was stupid tired and said that out loud, to which Maka giggled and agreed. "Feels like I've known you my whole life."

"Pretty sure that's the sleep deprivation and the pudding agreeing with me."

"Doesn't make it any less true."

"Your dad is going to kill me."

"Only if I bring you coffee." Maka smiled at him, tired.

"Oh yeah, bring the probie coffee. You want me to die?"

"No, I kind of like having you here. So I'll do that in secret." She smiled at him and all Soul could do was return her tired smile.


	4. Suddenly Appearing Coffee

[Loyalty]

So they've got a little motto around the precinct. "Don't date the daughter of a cop who outranks you." And Soul's finding it really hard to stay loyal to that.

Not like Maka makes it easy for him.

She did actually start to bring him coffee as promised, right after texting him how he took his coffee. And then she never really stopped texting him.

It became almost a game to try and sneak the coffee too him, how to hide it from the watchful eyes of other officers, the detectives who really should have noticed by now, and her father. Sometimes she'd hide his coffee somewhere else and text him to find it. Other times she'd visit hand out the coffee and leave again, but really she'd just be waiting down stairs to give him his. Every now and then she'd make it look like she had simply forgotten her coffee on his desk, and well, he wasn't about to let good coffee go to waste. Who cared if it had pink lipstick marks on it…fuck he had it bad for her.

Maka would text him throughout the day, how her classes were going, when the strap of her messenger bag broke, when she couldn't sleep, how she'd had to say no to her friends again about going out because it was really just a ruse to hook her up with some guy, and as soon as he could, Soul always texted back. He may or may not have texted back immediately about the friends trying to get her to go out though.

"I need a better picture of you for my phone please," she asked him one day. Soul had gotten the text hours ago, but had been on duty and had just gotten the chance to answer her.

"You want uniform or like me?"

"Send me both?"

"Greedy." But he's already scrolling through his phone looking for selfies that don't look like selfies. Most of his photos were from before most of his hair got shorn off to fit regulation, so he sends her a stupid one with him grinning and his hair all over the place and then snaps a quick photo of his ID, clean cut, hat making his ears look too big, and a sort of surprised look on his face. Definitely not the best picture of him, but well, there was a certain amount of humor to it that he was pretty sure she'd understand.

"I wanted a picture of you, not your dog."

"Geez woman! Cruel. "

She never actually tells him which photo she picked though.

This goes on for nearly a month; the texting, the secret coffee, the stolen little chats around the corner. He'd love to just ask her out, but Captain Albarn glares at him like he knows what's going on. Actually, he glares at all the new officers like that, but Soul just feels particularly guilty because he is kind of crushing hard on Maka.

Who is he kidding? He's halfway in love with her and tripping over himself to fall in love with her completely.

Which is why he's scared shitless when the Captain does actually call him into his office. At first it's just the routine stuff about upcoming training exercises, the latest scores on his tests, and then shit hit the fan.

"I spoke with my daughter, and she let slip that you were the one who kept her company while I was at that conference in New York and that bastard Law called."

Soul actually felt the blood drain from his face, "I volunteered, sir. I was off the clock so I wouldn't go into overtime."

"First, I do owe you a begrudging thank you. Maka appreciated your company. But probie? You stay away from her. She's my daughter and she doesn't need to go through the pain of being with a cop." Spirit fixed him with a cold glare. "Going to let you in on a secret, my wife left me because I'm an officer of the law." Soul bit his tongue before he could blurt out that the flirting and cheating may have played a part as well. "The long nights, waiting by the phone for the call that I was either alive or dead, and I was never there when she needed me. No one wants to do that to the woman they love. Don't you dare do that to my daughter."

"Sir, it isn't like that."

"Good. Keep it that way. Now get out of here." He shuffled the papers on his desk and Soul stood mechanically to leave the office.

He hesitated at the door, "Sir. I would never hurt Maka."

"Hard to hurt someone you aren't going to be around."

"Yes, sir." He knew a losing battle when he saw one.

His shift seemed to last forever and each time his phone vibrated Soul felt cold. The gym seemed like the best place to go as soon as he was off, some heavy lifting, a punching bag, and maybe a really…really long run. He didn't look at his phone, just put it in the gym locker and went to go beat the shit out of the punching bag.

The Captain was right. He did care about Maka too much to put her through all of that. But, she'd been raised with her dad as a cop. Maybe-

Soul didn't let himself think after that. Thinking was proving to be dangerous. So instead he focused on working himself into a stupor.

It didn't stop him thinking about her that night though. He'd kind of like to be loyal to her too.

She cornered him after a week. He'd been dodging her texts and avoiding her if she was around the office and he was there.

"Are you avoiding me?" Oh fuck. Direct question. She really was studying law. To lie or not to lie. "Soul!"

"Yes. Sorry." Okay, good, working so far…oh god is she about to cry?! Bad plan! Bad plan! How is he supposed to not hurt her by staying away from her when staying away from her is hurting her! "Maka, I'm sorry, I really am, but just your dad! The Captain-"

"Oh what did he do this time?"

"He's a cop, you know what it's like to worry about cops, and I don't want you to worry about me."

"You stupid boy! I can choose who I want to worry about myself!" She whacked his chest with an open palm, frowning but at least she wasn't about to cry. "Course I know what it's like to worry about cops. But I know when to worry, and when not to. You stupid, stupid, stupid cop!" Maka punctuated each "stupid" with another hit to his chest.

Soul pulled her against him, tucking her under his chin, and murmuring that he was sorry over and over again.

She fit perfectly in his arms and it only took him a moment to realize that fuck his mind; his heart was already loyal to her.


	5. Really Long and Not So Simple Run

[Wounds]

A nice long run.

Soul likes nice long runs, burgers, and a certain little green eyed law student.

The simple things in life really.

Except it's never simple.

Maka's the daughter of his police captain and likes to beat him over the head with her law textbooks. But she's really cute, like really cute, smart as a whip, and doesn't take shit from anyone. Least of all him. And well, he likes that. Being a cop, he deals with a lot of shit, so she's a breath of fresh air.

And long, winding, interesting runs to keep himself fit and give himself time to think. Or not think. It depended on his mood. Usually. Usually long runs were simple.

Not today.

Why was the only simple thing in his life burgers?

Today's long run came only four days after they'd talked. Maka had left the precinct a lot happier than she'd arrived and Soul made sure to pick up flowers and a bottle of wine before showing up for dinner at her apartment that night. They had spoken openly and candidly, that yes, she knew exactly what she was getting herself into and yes, she would still beat him over the head with a book. That no, he wasn't always going to be around, but, he'd be a shitty cop if he were, and Maka Albarn did not date shitty cops.

He'd kissed her gently before he left, having finally worked up the courage after half the bottle of wine. Maka had just smiled and asked what took him so long.

His stomach was still doing stupid lovey-dovey flip flops every time he thought of her and Soul was pretty sure he hadn't felt like this since he was thirteen. This was absurd; he picked up his pace and tried to focus more on his breathing than his stomach or remembering her eyes.

The courthouse that served as his three mile marker was just in front of him. Good. He'd sprint the next half mile and just get it out of his system, fucking butterflies.

At least, that was the plan.

Because the courthouse exploded when he was about a hundred yards away.

He jerked down into a crouch on the sidewalk, his ears ringing from the blast, car alarms blaring, and then screaming. Fuck.

There were no visible flames, not yet at least, and he couldn't see anyone down as he ran towards the courthouse, hand shaking as he reached for his phone to call it in. Other people were beginning to gather, some on their cell phones, some holding them up like they were taking pictures or video. He tapped the power button of his phone and it beeped at him…battery dead. Fuck.

Fucking piece of shit with the god damn battery life of a motherfucking fruit fly!

Soul whipped out his badge from the chain around his neck and started to bark orders. "You! Call nine-one-one! Keep them on the line! You, get those people back! You in the car! Get that out of here! Last thing we need is your beater breaking down and jamming up the road when the fire trucks get here!"

Sirens wailed in the distance, good help would be here soon; people were pouring out of the building and he could already see that most of them needed medical attention. "As far away from the building as you can get! Go!"

One of the security guards from the courthouse staggered over to Soul, bleeding from a head wound. "It was Law." Soul swore violently and put the guard's arm around his shoulders and helped him away from the building. Smoke was beginning to rise out of the shattered windows on the second floor.

"Do you know what it was?"

"No, didn't see it. Saw him come in, tried to stop him and he hit me over the head." Soul helped him sit down and took a quick look at some of the other people from the courthouse.

"Did anyone see what happened?" They shook their heads. He could see burns, cuts probably from shattered glass, a few broken bones, one woman was unconscious with a large red stain on her shirt, and more people just kept coming. "Are there people still inside?" Soul asked desperately.

One man looked up, "yeah, parts got blown out and shit started to collapse."

A cruiser came to a screeching halt, cops pouring out and assessing the damage immediately reporting it into their radios. One of them, an officer he didn't know ran over to the group he was currently with counting the injured and hopefully relaying that to the paramedics.

She spotted him and he flashed his badge. "Officer Evans of the 564, I was running a hundred yards out when an explosion went off in the courthouse. Justin Law might be involved; security guard says he saw him enter the courthouse." It all came out in a rush, but Officer Dupre nodded and repeated the information into her radio.

"We've got an extra vest in the cruiser, we're gonna need all the help we can get."

Soul nodded. "Course."

That was fifteen hours ago.

It was nearly midnight, the fire was still out of control, the third floor had collapsed onto the second floor, no one could get an accurate count of how many people were missing or confirmed dead. Soul was running on adrenaline, coffee, and a chocolate bar that someone had handed him. He'd been in and out of the building as many times as they'd let him until everyone was called out when they realized the roof was compromised.

The scene was a mess of flashing lights, the roar of the fire, and people yelling across the way. Every ambulance in the city had done at least two runs to every hospital, emergency lines were set up, a news crew was off to the side, and they were waiting for the whole thing to come down.

Of the five people Soul had managed to drag out of the rubble, two were in critical condition and the other three had bad breaks that were probably going to require extensive surgery. He was covered in ash, debris, sweat and blood, only some of it was his. His arm was really starting to hurt and he had a sneaking suspicion that he'd broken it when he's stumbled on the stairs while trying to keep the man he was helping from falling. The thick leather work gloves he'd been wearing had helped for a while, but his palms were still pretty badly burnt. Only reason he was finally noticing how many little injuries he'd sustained was because there was so little to do. The fire marshal had taken command, and as much as Soul itched to be helping there was nothing he could do.

"Do we have an Officer Evans somewhere around here?"

"Haa? Yeah, here." Another cop he didn't know waved him under the yellow tape surrounding the radio station.

"We got him, alive and breathing." There was a crackle and an affirmative and the officer actually looked amused. "The little Albarn was looking for you." Soul staggered and gripped the desk. "Oh yeah. You're in deep shit, buddy."

"My phone's been dead the whole time."

The officer actually laughed and then whistled at him. "Yup, she's gonna rip you a new one. How long you been here?"

"I saw the explosion."

"Shit. Get out of here, that was fifteen hours ago, kid. We got the night shift coming in and you're about to pass out on us." It hit Soul like a ton of bricks to hear it said aloud; he'd been on scene for fifteen hours. Fatigue finally sank its claws into his body and suddenly even standing was too much effort.

"She's gonna kill me."

"Naw, chicks totally dig the hero. Her daddy? The Cap though? He's gonna kill you. Get that arm in a splint and then we'll have a cruiser drive you over there." Soul's protests fell on deaf ears, Officer Barrett just waved over a paramedic who started to poke him. "I needed someone to do a run to 564 anyway; Captain Albarn's coming down to take over." There was a crack and Soul groaned when his fucking bones were back where they were supposed to be. He was being told something about ice and rest and the hospital but Soul was a lot more focused on not passing out to really pay attention.

Officer Barrett sat him down in a chair while his arm was wrapped with something stiff. Fuck, Maka was going to absolutely beat him black and blue. "Not a hero, just doing my job." Soul managed grit out.

"Sure thing, kid." It probably wasn't more than ten minutes but it felt like hours until the searing pain in his arm died down to a slightly more manageable degree. The worst of his cuts and burns had patches slapped on them, but most of these would need to be redone as soon as he showered to get all the grime off of himself. "Rides here. Get goin' the poor little Albarn's gonna be relieved to see you."

Officer Dupre was driving the cruiser that Soul was shoved into, still dazed, too tired to function, and in pain. She didn't make small talk, just said that she was glad to see him and thanked him for his help. They made it to his precinct in record time; it wasn't like any cops were going to stop them.

His dead phone felt like a million pounds when he stood to get out of the cruiser, he could only imagine how many missed class and text messages he was going to have. This was going to suck. A lot. Fuck, he hated to upset people, and the last thing he wanted to do was upset Maka. She was going to be so mad at him. And probably crying too. God this was going to be the worst.

Kilik was at the front desk, took one look at him when he walked in the building and said, "Conference room one. She's been crying the whole time."

Soul swore and mustered up the last dregs of his energy to run to the conference room.


	6. Ugly Orange Scratchy Shock Blankets

[Bandages]

Captain Albarn has an arm around his daughter while they watch the TV in the conference room, two laptops, a tablet, and three phones spread out on the conference table. Wires connected everything in a web of black and white, all constantly refreshing with the latest news.

She's still crying, less now that they at least know he's alive, but small hiccups keep escaping her. Spirit's been trying to get her to eat something but she can barely stomach water right now. Maka has been over every possible scenario at least three times, so when Soul stumbles into the conference room smelling like fire and looking like death warmed over only to collapse to his knees in front of Maka, even Spirit is relieved.

"I'm sorry, Maka. I'm so sorry. My phone died. It's been dead the whole time. I was trying to help. I'm sorry, I had to do my job, I was the first one there, I'm so sorry." Apologies pour from his mouth, he knows what he's saying but he can't articulate it well enough, maybe she'll understand if he says it a million times.

Spirit watches her cup the young officer's ashen face in her hands, they're both shaking and Soul looks like he's been dragged through at least three different pits of hell. As much as he loathes leaving his daughter alone with a boy, if Soul is here, that means his ride is here. He stands, drops a kiss to the crown of Maka's head and clasps Soul on the shoulder. "Under no circumstances are you to leave my daughter's side, Officer Evans. That's an order. Not until she dismisses you. Understand?"

Soul finally looks away from Maka and nods at his captain. "Yes sir."

Maka marginally composes herself and tells her father to be safe and to stay in touch. He nods and heads out.

When she looks back to Soul, he's holding her hands against his face, stroking the delicate skin of her inner wrist with his thumbs. "I never meant to worry you. I'm sorry, Maka, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." Everything hurts, like a lot, and he can barely keep his eyes open, but under no circumstances is he going to look away from her again. Tears are pouring from her eyes and she keeps stroking his face, shaking when he says her name.

"Stupid, stupid boy. I know when to worry, and this was exactly when I worry! No one knew where you were. No one knew. I thought you were dead! Soul," a sob breaks her voice and she runs a hand through his short and singed hair. He's alive and in front of her. He's alive and not crushed under a building. He's alive and not in the morgue. He's alive and leaning into her hands, turning his head to kiss her palms.

The apologies don't stop, not for a long time, not until she's on the ground with him, with her mouth slanted over his. All she can taste on his lips is ash and blood and he groans when her hands grip his arms. "Sorry. Kinda battered." Soul says quietly as she looks at him concerned.

"Let's get you clean. I want to redo some of these bandages; they're so hasty." She trails off and picks at the edge of one of them peeking out from under the burnt edges of the tshirt he'd gone running in what seemed like a lifetime ago. "Come on, showers. Now."

He just grins, unsure if he can even stand at the moment, but when Maka takes his hand and waits patiently until he can find his legs, he does. Doesn't matter how tired he is or anything else, he'll follow this girl to the ends of the earth if she asked him to. Actually, she probably doesn't even need to ask, he'd still go. Maka slings his good arm around her shoulders and tries to provide as much support as she can and Soul can't even deny that it helps.

And you know, right now, the showers in the basement? That kind of feels like the end of earth.

But they stagger into the showers next to the weight room and Maka sits Soul down on one of the little ledges in the showers. "I'm going to get the first aid kit, don't move."

"No worries there."

"When was the last time you ate something?" Maka called from across the room; good the kit has scissors, medical gauze, tape, all the essentials for putting a cop back together.

There was a resounding silence from Soul and she was half worried that he'd fallen asleep. "I don't remember? I think I had like a banana before the run and there was chocolate involved at some point."

"So you had time to get some nice fondue but couldn't remember to call your girlfriend?" She was going to get it through his thick skull if it killed her. He looks at her sheepishly when she comes back to the shower he was still slouched in.

"Oh yeah, had a nice steak too. Was gonna bring my girlfriend the strawberries though. Cause…you like strawberries, right?" Maka just shakes her head at him. He's so tired and still trying to crack jokes. Well, good.

"Mhm, you're going to owe me a lot of strawberries after this. Strawberry milkshakes, strawberry frosted donuts with rainbow sprinkles, and fresh strawberries and homemade whipped cream. None of that fake stuff in a can, officer." The first aid kit is set on the bench next to Soul and Maka starts to pull at his shoes.

Soul groans, "you really don't want to do that." His nose is still fried from all the smoke but he's pretty sure that his feet are going to smell awful.

"Yeah? Think you can do it yourself? Yeah, didn't think so. I'm just gonna cut your shirt and shorts off, you're too tired to deal with that." Maka makes quick work of his shoes and socks; they may have at one point been white socks but now they're just a mix of dried blood, stone dust, and soot. His legs are peppered with cuts and burns; some worse than others.

To try and preserve some of his dignity, Soul does try to pull his own shirt off. Which ends in his pained yelp when his broken arm is jostled. "You stupid boy. Stop. Just let me take care of you, okay?" Maka's hands are over his as she eases his arms down. "Please, Soul. You did enough today. It's my turn now."

He sighs, but nods. The absolutely tattered shirt is cut off with two quick lines that allow it to simply fall away from his torso. His running shorts and boxer briefs are a little bit trickier. They are kind of way past the point of modesty and Soul is too tired to even protest. It isn't exactly how he'd imagined being naked in front of her for the first time, but Maka was being really professional about all of it.

"Surprised you aren't studying to be a nurse. You've got the hands for it," he grunts after they finally get him completely naked.

Maka flicks the shower on and grabs one of the smaller towels to wet it. There's no chance of Soul actually standing up under the spray and she doesn't want to undo the EMT's splint on his arm. "I thought about it, and I took a few courses. But law is what I really love." She wipes the towel over his shoulders, cleaning away as much of the dirt and blood as she can. It takes at least three passes of the towel sometimes to find his tan skin underneath. Soul just sighs each time the warm towel is pressed against him; the steam from the shower swirling over them felt a lot better on his face than the smoke had.

Taking her time, being gentle and cleaning each cut thoroughly and keeping Soul awake with idle chit chat takes almost an hour. But by the time she is done, her stupid police officer is clean and dry and ready to be plastered in bandages, gauze, and Band-Aids. Whether he liked it or not.

She swipes Neosporin over each cut and then covers it quickly. The burns get a different cream and a bandage that won't fray and stick to them. And his face gets a gentle kiss each time she finishes.

"Maka-"

"I know, Soul." She presses her lips to the small smile he offers her. "You did the right thing. You did your job. Just don't forget to tell me you're alive next time, okay?" He nods and she kisses him again.

There were some precinct sweatpants, tshirts, and sweatshirts that Maka finds for him and helps him into. He's fading quickly and each time his eyes shut it takes longer for them to open back up. "Come on, you can sleep soon as we get some painkillers in you. We've got all the ugly orange shock blankets that we could ever want, so we'll make a nice little bed and you can sleep for as long as you want. But so help me, I will drag you out of this elevator by your toes if I have to."

His small chuckle feels like a huge victory and Soul manages to follow her all the way back to the conference room. "No! No sitting, if you sit you won't get back up. Drink this," she hands him a bottle of water, "eat these and then take this." A granola bar is stuffed into his other hand along with at least five doses of ibuprofen. "I'll be two minutes." Maka sprints from the room and returns with her arms full of scratchy orange blankets.

She pushes the tangle of wires from the computers on top of the conference table to the side and starts to arrange the blankets under the table while Soul dutifully tries to eat the granola bar and sip at the water. "Okay, lie down." Too tired to even ask why exactly under the table was necessary, Soul does as she asks. He groans, but yup, okay, under the table is kind of awesome. Maka types a quick message to her dad, who is still fine, and then joins Soul under the table.

"Here, I'll open the packets, soon as you take these you can sleep." Maka takes the painkillers from his hand and makes quick work of them while he blinks owlishly.

"Thanks." Soul swallows the pills with a quick gulp of water and sighs. "You'll be in here, right?"

"Going to be right next to you. I'm tired too." She draped two blankets over him and then folded another one up for his head. "Not leaving you." Maka makes her own little pillow and pulls a blanket over herself as well before curling into his side, a small hand placed over his heart.

Soul puts his hand over hers and weaves their fingers together as he falls asleep, safe and warm under a conference table.


	7. The Superhero and His True Love

Big thank you to Smokey, Fab, and Eis for all their help on this. Fab for editing most of this and helping me plot out the initial idea late on the Sunday night before soma week started. Eis for being a cutie and even drawing cop!Soul with his cute short hair hugging Maka. And Smokey for absolutely losing her shit over these two and helping me with all the actual cop stuff.

And, a HUGE thank you to all of you guys. I have loved reading your comments, tags, notes, everything. This was a lot of fun to write and I really appreciated all of the support for this silly little idea.

[First I love you]

He'd been sent on patrol because Captain Albarn had caught Maka kissing his cheek when she brought him coffee that morning.

Totally worth it.

It's been a month since the explosion at the courthouse; after the initial investigation, it was Justin Law, the rogue detective, who'd caused the explosion. The idiot had even blown himself up in some act of righteous and just chaos. Bullshit, he killed a lot of good people who didn't deserve to die and a lot of people had been seriously hurt. Soul's arm is still in a cast, that's coming off soon hopefully, and everything else had healed nicely.

There were going to be a few scars, but he was okay with it. He bought two extra batteries for his phone, one for his uniform and one for his wallet, as soon as he was coherent enough to remember how to type. That was a few days later and after a ridiculous amount of sleep and food at regular intervals. All he remembered from getting back to the precinct was apologizing to Maka, being naked, and then trying to get out from under the conference table.

That wasn't fun. The painkillers had worn off by that point, he was sore as fuck, and his broken arm was letting him know exactly how broken it was. Worst part? Some EMT with blue hair had been just about to jab a needle in him for a bag of fluids. Soul shudders in his cruiser as he makes his rounds, he fucking hates needles.

But Maka had stayed with him the entire time, and that had made things a bit better. Well, a lot better.

It's nice, they'd grab a coffee together in the early mornings after he got off a night shift or sometimes she'd come over for a nap in the afternoon after her classes. On the rare days that they both have off, they like to be lazy together. Frequently, Soul finds himself napping on his couch with his legs in her lap while she reads a book that has absolutely nothing to do with school. They'll cook, or sometimes order pizza, mushrooms on her half and sausage and peppers on his, and watch the game if Soul managed to remember to record it.

Maka's an easy person to be around; she isn't always easy to be with, but then neither is he. So she puts up with his weird dental hygiene habits and he deals with her know it all fact side note nerd outs that she so often has, mostly on topics that have no relevance to either of their lives. It's usually kind of cute, right until she starts going into detail about parasites.

But Soul likes her, he really really likes her. Like a lot. Like he should not like her this much, not for how short a time he's known her or how often she has hit him over the head with her law textbooks. But he does. Which might be a sign of brain damage caused by those law text books. Fuck. Well, he can live with it if it means he gets to live with her.

He's already debating if it's too soon to ask her to move into his apartment, selfishly because he wants to wake up next to her every day that he actually gets to sleep and mostly because he is pretty sure that there is a pole set up in the living room of the apartment that she shares with Blair. The one time he does ask her about it, Maka just laughs and says it's what she and Blair decorate at Christmas. Which makes him gawk, marvel, and a little sad inside, because he wants her to have a real tree that makes her happy to put presents under. Not some…pole.

Soul would also like to know if it's too soon to confess his undying love for her. Because this is sort of past the infatuation stage, hell, even Captain Albarn has resigned himself to the fact that Maka won't stay away from him, so he's instead decided to make Soul's life as difficult as possible. Again, worth it if he gets to have Maka in his life. And it doesn't seem to just be some sort of rebellion for Maka either; at least, he really hopes it isn't, because that would just suck. But he's a cop. He's pretty damn observant, so he doesn't miss the way she looks at him, he just hopes it means what he wants it to mean.

Speaking of being observant, a little girl crying at the base of a tree catches his eye and Soul slows the cruiser down until it's inching along. He stops it just in front of the yard, the grass needs to be cut again, but the flowerbeds look well maintained, and puts the car in park. "Hi miss, everything okay?" He asks as he steps out of the car.

The little girl has scruffy brown hair and a strange sort of chameleon hat on. "My kitty is in the tree!" Soul looks up and sure enough, there's a little orange kitten in the branches of the tree.

"Hey, shhhh, it's gonna be okay. I'll get her down, okay?"

"Be careful mister police officer!"

Soul grins, "here, can you hold my hat for me, please?" He hands it to the little girl who takes it reverently. She nods vigorously at him and Soul eyes the tree.

There aren't a lot of low branches, and even with his height, he's going to have to jump. Well, at least it isn't a pine tree so he won't get sap on his uniform. But, his arm is still in a cast. He eyes the tree, and then shrugs. He has a kitten to save.

It takes him longer than he'd like to admit to scramble up into the branches of the tree, and he is so doing a million pushups as soon as the stupid cast is off. The kitten wobbles away from him, meowing pitifully, and the little girl runs around underneath with his hat like she'll catch the kitten, aptly named Pumpkin. He swears under his breath and shimmies closer to the kitten, arm outstretched. "Come here, you little ball of fluff, you're worrying your girl."

Pumpkin mews and gets her fat tummy stuck between two twigs. Soul moves as far forward as he can on the branch, snags Pumpkin and holds her close to his chest just as he's pretty sure Maka calls his name. Which is weird, because what would she be doing here? He whips his head around, his cast slips on the branch and fuck.

Hi ground.

Soul groans, Pumpkin meows, and the little girl gasps. And Maka, who apparently really is there, giggles. Yeah, and he loves this girl.

"Thanks for the concern, fine thanks. Ow." He carefully detaches the kitten's needle sharp claws from the front of his shirt and chest and holds the kitten up for the little girl to take. "Officer downnnn." He whines.

"Oh no, my poor brave knight. Are you okay?" Maka fusses with this arm and leans over him to grin in his face, "I'll say something really nice at your funeral, okay?"

"Har har, should I text you that I fell out of the tree?" He grunts and manages to sit up. It wasn't that far of a fall and he hadn't even knocked the wind out of himself.

Maka smiles and plucks a few leaves out of his hair. "No, its fine, you saved a kitten that's what matters."

"Yeah! You saved Pumpkin! Thank you mister police officer!" The little girl cradles the little orange cat to her chest and grins at both of them.

Maka leans over and whispers a little too loudly to the little girl, "Angela, this is Officer Evans, he's actually a superhero." She smiles and nods when Angela gasps and leans back to Soul. "Officer, this is Angela, she's a witch in training, aren't you?"

"Yup! Daddy lets me make potions and ride my broom and he even got me a kitten! Are you really a superhero?"

Soul can actually feel himself blush, but before he can protest, Maka cuts in. "Yup! He's got super strength and a heart made out of gold, but he's a little rusty at flying. That's why he fell out of the tree, isn't it?"

"Maka-"

"Woooow! That's so cool mister police officer!" Angela has stars in her eyes now when she looks at him and Maka has the most satisfied little smile that all he can do is scratch the back of his neck and hope that his cheeks aren't too red.

"Angela is the daughter of one of my professors, she comes to class sometimes." Maka tells him while Angela runs around the yard with a little toy broom and Pumpkin tucked under her arm.

"I was going to ask. And what are you doing in this area? Not that it isn't nice to see you." He adds hastily.

"I walk through here to get to the library. No, don't give me that look, I know that look. That's the 'you shouldn't be anywhere near the streets past seven o'clock!' look. It's perfectly safe and if I'm at the library late I take the bus. Calm down." She pokes his cheek and he stops frowning. This neighborhood is actually very safe, but bad things happen regardless. "You ready for the dinner tonight?"

"Don't remind me. I still don't know why they're doing it."

"Because you really are a hero, Soul."

He sighs and puts his cap back on, "I was just doing my job. Anyone would have." But Maka shakes her head and stands, offering him a hand. He takes it, but only lets her take some of his weight as she pulls him up.

"But not everyone did. You saved a lot of lives and helped so much."

"And forgot to call you. And my mom. And brother." He shudders and Maka laughs at him, waving at Angela when she looks over.

"Yes, you did you bonehead. But they were glad to hear from you the next day, even if you were completely high on painkillers and sedatives."

Now it's Soul's turn to laugh, "yeah, that worked out kind of well. They both wanted to come tonight, but there's a concert that they're performing in. Mom promised that she and Wes would come out for a weekend as soon as they can." Having a world class musical family had made for an interesting upbringing; especially when he'd left to pursue a career in law enforcement instead.

"I'd like to meet them." Soul had mentioned his family a few times and whenever his brother called during games, Soul just couldn't stop grinning. "If that's okay! I mean, I don't have to-"

"Maka, I'd like that a lot actually." He cut her off quickly, still a little shocked that she'd want to meet his family. They watch Angela play for a moment more before the radio in the squad car makes both of them jump. "I should get back to work, before you give my secret identity away to anyone else."

She shoves his shoulder playfully, "I'll see you tonight, right? In your dress blues?"

He can't help but laugh at the hopeful look on her face. "Yeah, yeah, guess I should actually show up in formal attire to accept the award. I'm still pretty sure your dad is going to try and pin it to my forehead though."

"He might. But I'll kiss it better. And you're my ride home, remember?"

"And by home you mean my place, right?" Soul wags his eyebrows at her suggestively and she giggles.

"Yes, now shoo, I'm sure there are more kittens that need saving." Angela waves goodbye to them from across the yard and makes Pumpkin wave too.

"Yeah yeah, I'm going." But not really, he's standing in front of her smiling. Maka looks really pretty and he can't quite put his finger on it. Her hair is still down with some of it pulled back, she's not wearing anything special beyond her usual skirt, shirt and light sweater combination, and he's pretty sure she isn't wearing makeup. He leans down and presses a gentle kiss to her lips. "I'll see you later tonight. I love you."

It sort of slips out, but it's okay; it feels like it belongs. Her eyes widen and then she smiles and hides her face in her hands. It takes her a moment and Soul almost laughs, at how red her face is. "I love you too, Soul. Now shoo! Off with you, wasting tax payers' valuable money." But she delays him with another quick kiss. And then another. And another. At least until Angela starts to making cooing noises and yelling something about superheroes and true love.

And yeah, it kind of is about a hero and his true love.

Even if it makes both of them blush.


End file.
